Rebirth of Courage
by Kale Rylan
Summary: 500 years after my first fic, Destiny of Courage, this about two young heroes coming to grips with the truth of their identities and the age old romance that comes with them
1. Rebirth of Courage: Prologue: Fated meet...

This is the sequel to "Destiny of Courage" and it's pretty out there for a fic, but I think if   
you stick with it, you'll like it. Davis is going to have Guilmon, but this will be   
explained in the fic, I will also be using other elements from season 03, because I really   
like it, I will try to explain the reasons for most of this in the story. Please R&R.  
  
Disclaimer- I don't own digimon or any of it's characters  
  
Rebirth of Courage  
-Prologue-  
  
Five hundred years have passed since the War of Existence, which ended with the   
heroic sacrifice of the Leader of the Digidestined, who's name we have lost over the   
years. True Digidestined have not been born since the death of Ruki, daughter of the   
child of light. Because of this, Knowledge Inc. has created artificial digimon to partner   
with specific candidates. The problem is that these false digidestined cannot cause their   
digimon to digivolve naturally, so Knowledge invented Digi-upgrades (like digi-eggs)   
which forced the digimon to digivolve.   
Thanks to these amazing new technologies the Alliance has been taken over in all   
but name by Knowledge Inc. and it's fellow corporations. People are oppressed and   
many have lost the will to live. There are several resistance factions, as well as many   
factions who hold to the ancient prophecies set down by Kari and her descendents. The   
prophecies speak of the rebirth of He Who is One with the Dragon and the Child of Light.   
They also say that the world will burn to ashes and be reborn from the flames.  
History seemed to be going along in a straight line of depression and despair.   
That is, until I was born. My name is Marena, but for some reason in my dreams   
everyone is always calling me Kari. When I was six years old I found a Digital Egg lying   
in a field, and out of it hatched my twin digimon, Gatomon and Renamon. I was the first   
natural Digidestined born in 500 years, so Knowledge Inc. wanted to know how and why.   
They bought me from my family and made me live in their compound while they   
performed experiments on my digimon and I.   
I'm eleven years old now and am still living in the Knowledge compound. Today   
is the day that they are finally going to let me go to the Digital World. For as long as I   
can remember there has been a world in my dreams. A world where amazing thing   
happen every day, things like working vending machines in the middle of forests, and   
dragons befriending dinosaurs. Even though I've never been to the Digital World,   
somehow I've always known that's what I was seeing. Suddenly in walked the Curator   
to interrupt my thoughts.  
"Subject No. 782, it is time for you to begin the exercise, now retrieve your   
digimon and report to lab No. 05."  
"Ok, I'll be right there, sir."  
Subject No. 782, Subject No. 782, just once why can't he call me by my real   
name! My name is Kari… no, that's not my name! My name is Marena. I quickly told   
Renamon and Gatomon, who were in the small kitchen adjacent to my room, that it was   
time to go. Within ten minutes we had made it to the lab, which was on the other side of   
the compound. When I entered all the scientists were ready, along with the Curator.  
"No. 782," said the Curator, "you are late, if you want to continue having   
exercises in the Digital World, you will report immediately."  
I chose to ignore that remark, since he hadn't said that I wasn't gonna get to go.   
The scientists turned to their consoles and began to punch in the equations that would   
open up the digital gateway and allow me to go through unharmed. One of the younger   
scientists, who had always been nice to me, came over and whispered in my ear.  
"Marena, once you enter the Digital World, keep your eyes open, danger could   
come from any direction, now go and stand in front of the gateway down in the   
containment chamber."  
I tried to give him a brave little smile, but he gave me a sobering glare and shoved   
me in the direction of the containment chamber.  
"Come on Renamon, bring Gatomon with you," I called as I walked through the   
airlock.  
When my digimon and I were standing in front of the pulsating gateway, the   
Curator spoke over the speakers.  
"Once you enter the gateway all communication will be cut off, but we will be   
watching you at all times, now enter the portal."  
Notice he doesn't say that they'll help me if I'm in danger, I thought to myself as   
I walked through the gate, but then I was there, and nothing else mattered.  
I was standing on top of a sloping hill that rolled down into a densely wooded   
valley. I couldn't think of anywhere better to start so I walked down into the valley with   
my digimon following me. I walked deeper and deeper into the forest for around an hour   
and I didn't see another living thing the whole time so I started to let my guard down.   
That's when he showed, he was a young boy about my age with spiky brown hair…  
…"Kari (Huh?), we don't have much time left, so please just listen to what I have   
to say."  
"Ok Davis, I'm listening, what is it?"  
"Well, I've been watching you and T.K. (Who's T.K.) and I can see that you care a lot   
for each other, so I've decided to get out of your way, don't worry, I won't be around to   
bother you much anymore."  
"Davis, what are you try to say?"  
"Kari, what I am trying to say is I have decided to stay here in the Digital World with   
Veemon, so goodbye."  
Then he shoved me into the column of light, it was too late to go back. As tears   
started to flow from my eyes, I pulled off the digital camera around my neck (Why am I   
wearing a digital camera) and threw it at him.  
"Davis, please keep this to remember me by!…  
…Wow, what the heck was that, it was a lot stronger than any of the other dreams   
I've had, and why was the boy in it? Oh yeah, the boy. I quickly brought my attention   
back to reality. The boy was still standing there, with a frightening red dragon/dinosaur   
thing standing next to him.  
"Who are you, why are you here, and do you have anything to do with   
Knowledge Inc.?" the boy asked in an angry, suspicious tone of voice.  
"My name is Marena, I'm here for a training exercise, and yes, Knowledge sent   
me here."  
The boy's whole body tensed before he spoke again, "I'm sorry then, I make a   
point of killing anyone who has anything to do with Knowledge."  
"Killing," I thought to myself, "but he can't be much older than I am, why would   
he want to kill anyone?"  
"Wait, I'm not doing anything bad for them, they bought me when I was a child   
and made me a test subject," let's hope he believes me, or I'm finished.   
He had a confused expression on his face as he asked, "Bought you?"  
"Yeah, they bought me from my parents because I am a true Digidestined and   
they want to know how."  
He didn't speak for a while and I decided that he believed me. I was curious   
about who he was so I decided to try asking him some questions.  
"I've told you my name, but you still haven't told me yours, would you mind?"  
He hesitated briefly before telling me; "My name is David."  
He appeared to be flustered, so I thought I should press my advantage while it   
lasted.  
"Why are you here, normal children aren't allowed into the Digital World,   
especially not ones who want to kill anyone linked with Knowledge."  
"Hmm…, Oh I live here, I have all my life."  
"What!" I was stunned, "you mean you and your family live in the Digital   
World!?"  
"Fa…mi…ly, Oh, you mean parents, I don't have any parents, Guilmon here is   
the only family I have, we've been together since the day we were born."  
"You mean you're an orphan?"  
"Not that I know of, the Elder digimon found me and Guilmon as babies floating   
down river in a basket."  
This has to be the strangest person I have ever met, how did he come to live in the   
digital world with no parents. All of a sudden the red dragon's ears perked up and his   
pupils got really small.  
"What is it, Guilmon, what do you sense?" asked the boy.  
"There is a champion coming," replied the dragon in a sweet baby voice.  
The boy tensed and I turned to see if I could tell what the Dragon was staring at.   
That's when a large, horned, purple dinosaur crashed through the trees.  
"It's Darkgreymon!" cried Gatomon.  
"Quick, Renamon, Gatomon, give it everything you got!" I ordered.  
"No, stop, your attacks will have no effect on them," said David, and to my   
amazement, they listened.  
"How can he order my digimon around like that?" I thought to myself.  
Then he pulled a card out of his pocket and began to run it through his digivice.  
"Digi-modify!" he called, "Hyper Wing!"  
The dragon sprouted six glowing angel wings and flew high into the air.   
Darkgreymon launched several Nova Breaths after it, starting some of the surrounding   
trees on fire. David pulled yet another card out of his pocket and slashed it through his   
digivice.  
"Digi-modify,…, Terra pyro sphere!" he roared, "let her rip, Guilmon!"  
"Right!" called the little dragon, "pyro sphere!"  
The little beast shout a ball of light out of it's mouth that continued to grow bigger   
until it hit Darkgreymon, forming a huge dome of light. The dome erupted into a column   
of flaming energy that split the clouds. When the light finally dissipated all the trees in   
the clearing were totally gone, along with the boy and his dragon, but there was an   
envelope where I last saw him. I picked up the envelope and opened it, out dropped a   
necklace with a single stone on it, and a letter. This is what the letter said, "Here is a gift,   
if you where this necklace, Knowledge cannot track your bio-signature and you will   
finally be able to escape them."  
It sounded almost to good to be true, but somehow I knew that he would never lie   
to me, so I put the necklace in my pocket for when I got back to my world. With this, I   
could finally go home.   
"Who was that guy?"  
To be continued…  
I hope you liked it, I know it was definitely not a normal fic, but I think if you   
stick with it you'll get a kick out of it. Until next time!  
  



	2. Rebirth of Courage: Chapter One: Leaveta...

I'm sorry this has taken so long. When the site went down there I kind of stopped paying attention and I just now saw it was up again. Anyway, I want to thank everyone who reviewed the prologue, and please continue to R&R.

  
  


Disclaimer- I don't own digimon or any of the characters involved

  
  
  
  


Rebirth of Courage

-Chapter One-

  
  


Six years later...

"I think it's time for me to finally return," I thought to myself as my brother Brian and I sat in our hotel room. It had been two years since I was finally able to find my family after escaping from Knowledge all those years ago. The happy reunion didn't last long though, Knowledge found me, and in the ensuing struggle my parents were killed, but my brother and I were able to escape with the help of my digimon. We've been running ever since, never staying in one place very long. I'm so lucky to have Brian here with me, I could never do this alone. Brian is the rock I lean on when times get hard, and he follows me wherever I go. It's too hard though, I can't handle it any more, all that's left is to return to the Digital World (To Him). I stayed silent, deep in thought, for long enough that Brian started to worry, he'd been doing a lot of that lately.

"Sis, sis, what are you thinking about you seem like you're in a coma."

I quickly shook off my melancholy and looked him in the eyes, "Brian, I'm going back, to the Digital World I mean."

He visibly started, "That's crazy talk, you no that no one is allowed into the digital world except Knowledge Inc. personnel, and even if you could get in, it's a Hell full of horrible monsters."

"Brian, that's not true, I've been there, the stories about it being horribly dangerous are just lies Knowledge tells the public so no one looks too closely at what they're doing."

"So what is it like, you've told me about the boy hundreds of times, but you never really explain what it was like just being there."

I sat back and sighed, remembering the wonderful sensations engraved upon me by that one experience, "It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen Brian, it's like all those pictures of how the Earth looked thousands of years ago, beautiful and serene, without the never-ending cities of the present."

"Ok, I'll admit, it sounds like a splendid place, but how are we supposed to get there."

"Well... that's the tricky part, we're going to have to sneak into a Knowledge Inc. facility and somehow get the portal open so we can get through."

He looked at me, kind of stunned, "Do you realize what you're saying, Knowledge has the authority to kill any intruders, due to the top secret nature of their experiments!"

"I know, but if we go to the building where they kept me as a child, there was a younger scientist who was always nice to me, I bet I can get him to open the gate for me."

"What if he doesn't, or what if he doesn't work there any more, then what do we do?"

"Brian, you know as well as anyone that Knowledge never lets go of their employees, and if he won't help us, well, I'm a digidestined after all, I'll think of something."

"This is crazy Marena, but I know you're determined to go through with it, so I'm going with you."

I threw my arms around his neck and cried, "Oh thank you Brian, I knew I could count on you."

We set out the next day for Knowledge Facility No. 7, which was on the other side of the planet, about a three hour trip by air-train. We arrived at the city by about noon, and although the city was huge and Brian was sure we were lost, I knew my way just as well as if I hadn't been for these last six years. When we arrived I just stood across the street, staring at the building. It was strange, even though my memories of the place were bad ones, it was still the closest thing I had ever had to a home. Brian knew how hard this was for me, so he waited silently for me to prepare my mind. Now it was time for us to see if my plan had a chance in hell of succeeding. 

First, Renamon jumped up onto one of the corner towers with an inhuman lack of noise. She quickly and silently knocked out the three guards on duty, then jumped back down and ferried Gatomon, Brian and myself up to the tower control room one by one. 

"I can't believe that worked," Brian whispered to me when we were all in the tower control room.

"Knowledge believes that they own all digimon so they don't design defenses against them," I replied quietly. Now for the second part, this part depended on pure luck. We all crept down into the main building and made our way to Lab No. 5 as though we were on official business. That way, we hoped, no guards would question us until we got to the checkpoint. It worked, now for the really chancy part, the checkpoint was a DNA scanner, so we just had to hope that Knowledge's employees were too lazy to take me off the list, otherwise we would have to blast our way through the whole lab. I glanced about nervously as I placed my hand on the scanner, "Please work, please work, please work."

The light flashed across the panel a few times and... Ding! It worked! Well, that's a relief, now we've made it through the first checkpoint. The second checkpoint needed a key card, which we had bought a copy of off of the black market, so I was a little bit more sure of that. As I ran the card through my mind danced with images of the new life I was going to lead, but then, the light on the card reader flared an ugly red! The alarm started blaring as armed guards burst through the last checkpoint and security guns started firing.

"Gatomon, Renamon, quick!" I shouted at my twin digimon.

"Lightning Claw!"

"Diamond Storm!"

In a few seconds they had dispatched that group of guards and destroyed the turrets, but I knew more guards would come soon, and Brian had been hit in the leg.

"Renamon, blast a whole through that wall to the gate!" I said as I lifted Brian to his feet and put his arm over my shoulders. She did, but it wasn't fast enough, more guards had arrived, so as I carried Brian into the lab and tried to open the Digital Gate, my digimon were busy fighting guards. The gate panel was full of strange lights and buttons, and I began to worry that the whole plan might be impossible, but then I heard a familiar voice from the other side of the lab.

"Is that you Marena, have you finally returned?"

I looked over and, sure enough, there was the kind scientist of my youth! 

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't stay, I need you to open the gate for me and my friends."

"I know Marena, I've been waiting for you, I knew you would return to the gate eventually."

"Th-Thank you," I mumbled, stunned.

"Your welcome, now gather your friends and go stand near the gate."

I grabbed Brian and called to my digimon as I ran for the gate, hoping the guards would ignore the researcher. When we arrived at the gate it was already online, so I plunged straight through, my friends right behind me. 

Then I was in the Digital World again finally, and nothing else seemed to matter. I heard a noise from behind me, reminding me that the gate was still open so I turned around. I saw the scientist standing in front of the gate confronting the Curator.

"Get out of the way," said the Curator calmly.

"No, I will not let you get near the Child!" shouted the young scientist.

"You cannot stop me, Doctor."

"That's where you're wrong, I have sent her to the one place she will be safe."

"There is nowhere for her to hide from me."

"Soon, she won't need to hide, soon, she will return to our world, and she will bring with her He Who Is One With The Dragon, and he will bring vengeance upon us."

"Ancient superstitious nonsense."

"You only wish, now I'm going to make sure you can't follow her, at least not from here."

Then he turned and I saw that he had something strapped to his chest. This confused me until I saw that he was running straight at the gate generator. Those were explosives on him! As he collided with the generator there was a blinding flash of light, then the gate wavered and dissipated.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I cried, grief stricken. I hadn't known him very well, but he was still one of the only people to ever show me kindness, and he had sacrificed himself for me.

  
  


To Be Continued...

I hope you like it, I'm sorry it took so long to complete. The next chapter will mark the beginning of the real journey, so until next time, goodbye! 

  
  


To 

  
  



	3. Rebirth of Courage: Chapter Two: Brave N...

I'd like to thank those readers who've reviewed my fic so far. I just hope that more will review this chapter. I think that's all.

  
  


Disclaimer-I don't own digimon or any of its characters.

  
  
  
  


Rebirth of Courage

-Chapter Two-

  
  


As I knelt there on the ground wallowing in my grief I began to wonder if coming to the Digital World had been worth it. One of the only kind people in my life had been sacrificed, all because of an infatuation I had with a boy I'd met once for about ten minutes. I began to beat my fists against the ground in frustration and sorrow.

"Why!?" I shouted over and over in despair. With each passing moment, the force of my blows increased, and before long I had open bleeding wounds on my hands, but I did not stop. Brian soon became alarmed and even a little frightened. He tried to place a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I threw it out of the way. He stood there for a moment more as I continued, then walked around in front of me and slapped me soundly across the face. I stopped, motionless in shock that my mellow brother had just slapped me. Then came the outrage.

"Hey, what the hell did you do that for!?" I yelled angrily.

"You were being hysterical," Brian replied calmly.

"So you smacked me!?"

"I was told that that's what you do when people are hysterical."

"You smacked me!" I said again, not really angry anymore, just completely shocked.

"I guess it worked well," Brian said simply, seeing from my expression that I was no longer angry. Realizing he was right, and that I was acting silly, I started to laugh. I'd always been told that I had an infectious laugh, and I guess they were right, because Brian quickly joined in. When I stopped laughing, I thanked whoever made the world that I'd been given such a wonderful brother, and then I looked at my emotions. The grief was still there, but it was no longer the torrent of complete sorrow, I could manage it now. I looked around, it was the same hill and forested valley that I had seen all those years ago (Now if I could just find him)

Brian looked around at the scenery before saying, "I can see why you could never get this place out of your mind, it's beautiful."

"I know."

"Well," he said, "which way do we go?"

"How should I know, he found me last time?"

"What, why did you bring us here if you don't know where anything is?"

"Fine, would you rather have stayed back there where we knew what it was like?"

"No, I guess not."

"Well then, where do you think we should go?"

"I don't know," he stopped to think about it a while, "Well, I'd rather not get lost in any forest, so why don't we just skirt the edge of that one."

I laughed and then threw one arm over my brother's shoulders, "I don't know what I'd do without you, you always think everything out so well."

He smiled at me sheepishly and was about to say something but I wasn't done, "I was thinking, why don't we ask my digimon?"

He stared at me, his eyes wide, "I never thought of that."

I turned to Renamon and Gatomon, "Do you two know anything about the layout of the Digital World?"

They both looked around for a while before replying, "I've never been here before sorry," said Renamon.

"It didn't look anything like this the last time I was here, it's grown quite a bit larger since then."

I looked at the little white cat in wonder, "Gatomon, you two came out of the same egg, how could you have spent time here if she hasn't?"

"A digimon's data can be reintroduced into the system when necessary, so even though this is Renamon's first life, it is not mine."

"Really, that's amazing, who was your original tamer and just how long ago was it?"

"You're not quite ready for that information yet," replied my little friend mysteriously.

I thought about it a second and then decided it would be best if I dropped the subject, "Okay, I guess we should probably go with Brian's idea then."

So we all set off and began to circle around the forest, looking for any significant landmarks that would give us something to go explore in the hopes of finding the mysterious boy. We had been traveling for several hours when the sun began to go down. Brian and I decided that there was no point in continuing in the dark, so we began to search for some water to make camp. Before long we came across a brook just a couple hundred yards into the forest so we set up our tents in a nearby clearing and started a fire. After eating a small meal we both decided to go straight to bed, the day had been very tiring. 

It was a little after midnight when I awoke all of a sudden. I could feel something nearby, calling to me. I stood up and quietly got dressed, being careful not to wake Brian or my digimon. I left our camp going due east, following the brook deeper into the forest. It was amazing how bright the full moon was in this world, I could see perfectly, the only differences from day were slightly longer shadows and the fact that it was that cool light only the moon gives off. I began to hear a muffled roaring noise in the distance, I quickly realized that the source of that noise was my destination, but what was it? 

After walking for about a half hour, I broke out of the trees and found what I was looking for. It was a twenty foot tall waterfall emptying into a small lake which fed the brook I had been following, and there, on the cliffs above was standing a young man, who's features I could almost make out....

.... "I'm sorry but the only way to get rid of him is to kill myself, that way he has no body to take over," Davis grew silent then, when he the shocked expressions on the other's faces and my look of pure horror.

"No Davis, you can't die, I won't let you..., your child needs a father!" (Child!? I'm...Pregnant?) I yelled while I beat my lover's chest with my fist and tears rolled down my cheeks. I could see that my words hit him very hard, but then his expression became determined and he said, "Kari, don't you see, that's why I have to do this, I can't let this horror be unleashed upon my child, I have no choice."

"That's not true, we'll talk to Gennai, I know he'll figure something out!"

"Kari," I said gently, "Gennai is the one that told me that Fallen enters the body of whoever kills him."

"No...no there must be something we can do!?" I cried, but I knew that this was the only way.

Then he lifted my chin and looked straight at me with his determined eyes, "Kari, this is not the end, we will be together, in this life or the next, I promise you that." ...

... I fell to my knees in a storm of weeping, for I had just lost the one thing that I loved most in all the world. I heard a loud splash somewhere near me, but it was outside my grief and did not matter. That is, until a strong, wet hand reached down and grasped my chin, forcing me to look into a pair of determined brown eyes.

"Why are you crying?" asked the man in a soft voice.

I quickly wiped my eyes and stood up before replying shakily, "I'm sorry you had to see that, I've had a hard day." Then I stopped, stunned as I got my first good look at him. Except for a few differences, he looked exactly like the man from my vision. For one he wasn't wearing a shirt and the sleeves had been torn off his flame-embroidered jacket, leaving ragged edges at the shoulders. He also wasn't wearing a digital camera around his neck, but by far the biggest difference would have to be the sword strapped to his back, with a blade that seemed to be made of glowing blue crystal, and a dragon motif on the hilt and crosspiece.

* * *

As I stared at her under the moonlight, I quickly decided that she was easily the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her mid-length brown hair was tastefully highlighted, she wasn't too big or too small in the chest and she had ravishing curves. Her large, expressive eyes appeared to be a shade of red, an unusual color, but for some reason they seemed to draw me in. Then I noticed that she was wearing a small pendant, a pendant that I think I gave her a long time ago, "Marena?" I asked tentatively.

Her eyes doubled in size, "Is that you David!?"

"It is."

She threw her arms around me in an awkward show of emotion, I didn't really know how to react so I just stood still waiting for her to regain her composure. In a few minutes she let go and stood a few minutes back staring at me.

"What are you doing here, Marena?" I asked, a little more angrily then I meant to.

The lowering of her eyes told me that my question and tone had been a mistake. She did answer my question though.

"When I finally was able to escape from Knowledge, I made my way to my family. When I did find them, I thought I was in heaven, but it didn't last long, Knowledge had my parent's killed, but my brother and I managed to escape. After years on the run, I finally got sick of it and told him that I wanted to come back to this world."

As she recounted her tragic tale she began to cry again. I didn't really know what to say since I'd never had a family, but I tried to imagine what it would be like to lose Guilmon, and I think I began to understand her anguish. I slowly put my arm over her shoulders, not really sure what I was supposed to do. She quickly took advantage of my gesture and pressed herself against my chest, pulling my arm around her. After we had stood there, knee deep in the water, for several minutes Guilmon, my little red, wingless dragon, walked up. Guilmon was always curious about new things, and this beautiful crying woman was no exception. 

"Why are you leaking?" He asked in that childish voice of his, head cocked to one side.

No one could resist Guilmon's childlike charm, and Marena began to giggle girlishly, which quickly turned into a full throated laugh as Guilmon's expression became more and more confused.

"Why, why are you leaking," he asked again.

"It's called crying, and she was doing it because she was sad," I supplied.

"Oh, that makes sense, I guess," his little face showing just how hard he was trying to understand the concept.

Marena smiled and fondly patted Guilmon on the head before saying, "Yes, I was very sad, but you solved that problem, thank you."

"Okay!" he replied, smiling happily.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" came a sudden cry from far off in the wilderness.

"Brian!" shouted Marena.

"Brian?" I asked.

"My brother," she said quickly, "we have to help him, please come with me."

I considered it, I was not a hero, and I was not in the practice of helping those in need, but for some reason I could not say no to this young woman, so I nodded my head, "Lead the way."

She smiled and then began to run as fast as she could back into the forest, Guilmon and I followed. We ran for about ten minutes before getting to the clearing. I looked around, gauging the situation. There were a dozen giant, fully developed white, tiger-striped white wolves in the clearing, and in the center a bleeding young man was laying unconscious, with a digimon on each side. Then, all twelve Garurumon began to charge flaming blue light in their massive muzzles, before releasing all twelve attacks straight at the boy and the two digimon in the center, 

"Howling Blaster!"

  
  


To Be Continued...

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, I hope you like it and review. I hope everyone who reads this continues to read my "Rebirth of Courage" into the next chapter and beyond. Thank you! 


	4. Rebirth of Courage: Chapter Three: Sword...

Not a whole lot that needs to be said this time around, so please read and review. Thanks.  
  


Disclaimer-I don't own digimon or any of the characters in it.  
  


Rebirth of Courage

-Chapter Three-  
  


I saw immediately that the young man and the two digimon had only one chance, so I quickly pulled out my D-arc. I slashed two cards through it in the blink of an eye, the first was a digivolution which, as always, seemed to freeze time for an instant as Guilmon digivolved to his champion form, the giant red dragon Growlmon, then a hyper speed card, the victims' only hope. In a blur of red scales, Growlmon launched into the center of the clearing, picked up the boy and the two digimon, and brought them over to just in front of me. A split second later the twelve beams collided, and the resulting explosion threw us all to the ground and sent a deafening sonic boom through the air.

My ears were ringing horribly, but I knew that if I hesitated we could all die. I quickly stood up and peered through the smoke to try and get a fix on my opponents. As the smoke cleared, I saw that all twelve Garurumon were still there, but they seemed to have been stunned. Unfortunately, they were very quickly getting over their momentary discomfort.

"Growlmon, quick, fire a few blasts at random spots between them, we need to get them separated, if they operate as a pack we can't hope to win!"

"Right," replied the big dragon, "Pyro Blaster!"

My plan worked perfectly, the Garurumon were forced to separate into smaller groups in order to avoid the explosions.

"Now Growlmon, you take those four on the right, I'll take the two in the middle, then we can take care of the last six easily!"

Growlmon quickly ran towards the four disoriented Garurumon, firing random blasts as he ran. I loved to watch my partner do battle, and I would have continued, except I had my own enemies to worry about. I quickly pulled my sword off my back, as always wondering where it had come from, and ran towards my opponents. One of the two I had marked out was quite a bit larger than the others and had several scars, it was he who I believe led the pack. But now there was no more time for though, the battle was upon me.

* * *

I was leaning over Brian's unconscious body, checking to see if he had any serious wounds, I couldn't find any, so I sat down with a sigh of relief, and took my digimon into my arms. 

My attention was quickly drawn to the titanic battle being waged before my eyes. Growlmon (I think that's what David called him) had already killed three of the Garurumon and was finishing off the fourth as I watched. David had also defeated one and was currently engaged in battle with a big, scarred Garurumon. The more I watched the battle, the more impressed I became, the fact that he could take on an obviously stronger than average champion said something. Although David was obviously not as powerful as Growlmon, he was still far more powerful than any human I had ever met. And that sword... it seemed to glow with an inner flame as David swung it at Scarface (my name for the big wolf), and Scarface seemed to be trying to dodge it rather than parry or deflect it. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was afraid of what might happen if it touched him. 

The battle continued, neither combatant giving or gaining one inch, and I could see that it was fast becoming a stalemate. Then David did something truly strange, he threw his sword as hard as he could off to left of Scarface, so that it got stuck into a tree about six feet up the trunk, just about level with the top of the wolf's back. Then, just as Scarface lunge at him with his jaws wide, David leapt to where the sword was stuck, yanked it out, and rebound over the wolf's back, bringing his blade around in a deadly sweeping motion that cut deeply, too deeply, into the back of Scarface's neck. Now that was obviously a very serious, possibly fatal wound, but what came next was strange. As Scarface drooped to the ground, the wound burst into cold blue flames which quickly engulfed his body, leaving not a trace of him left after they dissipated in a couple of seconds. The other six wolves, who had been held back Growlmon, howled at the sight of their leader's demise, and quickly retreated into the depths of the forest. As I watched David stand there after the battle, I wondered, how strong was he? Was Growlmon really stronger than him, or had I misjudged his power?

* * *

The battle had been reasonably challenging, the wolf had been far more powerful than your average champion. It had been smart enough to know that if it had delayed even a second to try one of it's special attacks, I would have split it wide open. Unfortunately, it hadn't been smart enough to just run away when it was faced with a more powerful and cunning opponent. I hated killing wild digimon when they were only doing what they thought was necessary in order to survive.

I looked around then to see what had happened to the others while I fought. Growlmon had de-evolved to Guilmon and was walking towards me now, and the girl...? Ah, there she was, she was sitting next to the unconscious young man, Brian I think she'd called him, with her digimon near her, and she appeared to be pondering something. Guilmon was standing right next to me now so I fondly patted him on the head.

"You did great Guilmon, I think you've gotten even stronger over the last few months."

"Yeah!" cried Guilmon, but then came an ominous rumble from the direction of his mid-section, "can we have lunch now, my tummy aches."

I laughed then, I had stopped trying to teach Guilmon which meals came at which parts of the day, to him it was all just lunch. I had even begun to call them all lunch myself.

"Don't worry Guilmon, we'll eat in just a little bit, but first we have to see to our companions."

"Okay!" he replied, smiling happily.

If only everyone were as innocent and carefree as Guilmon, I thought to myself before walking towards where Marena was sitting. She stood up as I walked over.

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

"No, just a few scrapes and bruises," I replied stonily, I had never been good at expressing my feelings with anyone but Guilmon, anyone I associated with for very long always mentioned it eventually.

Thankfully, she let it slide, probably sensing my discomfort.

"How is your brother?" I asked, trying to sound concerned, for her sake.

"He's fine, he doesn't seem to have any serious injuries."

"Oh."

"From what Renamon and Gatomon have told me, he seems to have taken a nasty fall while he was trying to get away from the Garurumon."

"Well, that's good, are you guys hungry, Guilmon says he's hungry, but that's not unusual after a battle like that."

"We already ate, but after all this excitement, I feel like I could use a little something, and I'm sure my digimon would be happy to eat."

"Mm hmm," said Gatomon fervently, while Renamon simply nodded quietly.

"Ok then, all of my stuff is back above that waterfall, so we'll have to go."

"What'll we do with Brian?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll carry him, he doesn't look that heavy," I said as I looked down at the tall, but skinny blonde kid.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

So we set off, with Guilmon and Gatomon leading the way, chatting happily while Renamon leapt from tree branch to tree branch beside the path. As I walked on, I tried to figure out why I was helping these people. I had met many other humans during my life, a lot of whom had been in grave danger at the time, and I had not helped any of them. I figured, if you weren't capable of taking care of yourself, then you deserved to die. But for some reason with these people, with this woman, it was different. I knew that no matter what happened, I would never willingly abandon her, yet I could not fathom as to why.

We were setting a brisk pace, so we arrived at the waterfall before a half hour was up. After I had set the comatose young man down on the small beach, I turned to Guilmon.

"Guilmon, would you mind going up and getting the food and bags, you're a faster climber than I am."

"Ok."

"I will help him," said Renamon quietly, before disappearing in the general direction of the waterfall. In a few moments Renamon and Guilmon had returned with the food, so I quickly set about gathering some firewood and building a small fire. Before long I had got the fire going and was cooking up some of our rations, fish mostly. Once, long ago every creature in the digital world simply disappeared when they were fatally wounded, or so the elder digimon had told me. Yet, for some strange reason the creatures had gradually stopped disappearing as they died, the process had supposedly begun about the same time as the War for Existence, around five hundred years ago. The food was soon ready and I passed it around to each of the members of this ill assorted group before sitting down.

There was no talking as the meal progressed, Guilmon had always known that I liked it silent while I ate, but I guess the others were still in shock from there ordeal. I could feel Marena's eyes boring into me as I ate, for I had purposefully positioned myself so as not to have to look at her. I'm sure she was insulted by my position, but I needed time to think without having to see those strange red eyes. After we had all finished eating I stood up, gathered the dishes, and went over to wash them in the stream. It didn't take long for me to finish, and after I placed the dishes in my bag, I saw that my companions had all settled down in their sleeping bags for the night.

"Good night everybody, sleep well," An unusual thing for me to say, but it seemed fitting for some reason. After saying that I crept silently up the cliff face and lay down next to the waterfall. I had always liked high places and never passed up a chance to sleep somewhere high.

* * *

I woke up that morning, surprisingly well-rested considering that I'd only had around five hours of sleep. As I sat up I stretched languidly, trying to get a look and make sure all my companions were still here. My digimon were sleeping on either side of me, and Guilmon was laying on a mound of sand, snoring softly. Brian still appeared to be out of it, I would check on him in a few seconds, but first..., yep there was no way around it, David was definitely not with the rest of us. Ah well, no reason to worry about that, there's no way he would leave Guilmon behind, so he had to be around here somewhere. Time to see to Brian, I got up and walked over to where he was laying and checked his vitals. I could not see anything unusual, so I decided to try and wake him. Brian had always slept like a rock, so I didn't really expect him to wake when I shook him, whether he was injured or not. I decided I'd have to do what I usually did, I walked over, filled my cupped hands with water, and then pored it on his face from about three feet in the air.

"Wha..., wha... what the heck are you doing, ohhhhh," he groaned in pain as he tried to rise.

"Not too quickly, brother dearest, you took one heck of a pounding last night, but David managed to save you, and the rest of us."

"David, who's tha..., oh yeah, I remember, that's the name of your mysterious dreamboat, so you finally found him huh?"

"Yep, and he's the one who defeated those wolves last night and carried you hear after the battle."

"Well, where is he, it sounds like I should thank him."

"I'm not totally sure where he is right now," I replied a little sheepishly.

"Hmm, some hero, not even there when you need him."

"Don't worry about it he'll be back, his digimon is still here, see," as I said this, I directed Brian's vision over to the happily sleeping Guilmon. Brian visibly jumped, I guess it's not everyday you see a dragon, small or not.

"That's one heck of a digimon, bet he's pretty scary when he digivolves."

"Yeah, but I have a feeling he won't hurt me."

"Well, as interesting as this topic is, do you have any food, I'm starving."

"Not a problem," I said, pulling some bread and cheese out of my bag and handing it to him.

* * *

I had been awake for about an hour and was listening to Marena's conversation with her brother. I liked my solitude and saw no reason to come out of it just yet. As their conversation continued and slowly became playful brother-sister banter I decided it was time to wake Guilmon. I stood up and silently clambered down the cliff-side, so silently in fact that neither Marena or her brother noticed me until I had shaken Guilmon awake.

"Mmm... peanut butter... wha... huh, oh David good morning!" cried Guilmon happily before throwing his arms around my neck ecstatically, Guilmon always showed his emotions to there full extent. Marena and her brother both whipped around to look at me.

"Where were you?" asked Marena, somewhat anxiously.

"I was sleeping up above the waterfall, nothing to worry about."

"Oh." It seemed that the young man was trying think of something to say, so I waited silently. He stood up and walked over to me haltingly before speaking, I guess he didn't want to be seen as an invalid when he introduced himself, good, that meant he had some sort of dignity.

"Hello, my name is Brian, I understand that I have you to thank for the fact that I'm still alive, thanks," he said as he extended a hand to me.

"David, it was nothing," I took his hand and shook it firmly.

"Marena, where are you two headed?"

"Well," she blushed prettily before continuing, "the only thing I had in mind when I came here was to somehow find you and ask for your help, I couldn't handle the real world anymore."

"Oh, so you had no plan of any kind then, did you?"

"No, not really," she said, blushing prettily.

"Well, I can lead you both as far as the human city of New Tokyo, it's a strange place, run by some fanatics from the Church of the Prophet, but you can build your new life, or whatever is you plan to do, there."

"Thank you David, I appreciate what you're doing."

"Don't mention it."  
  


To Be Continued...

I'm really sorry that this took so long, I hadn't decided whether or not to complete this story, but I really enjoyed the characters, so I figured I might as well. Once again, I'm sorry, please R&R with your opinions and suggestions.


	5. Rebirth of Courage: Chapter Four: On the...

There isn't really much to say except that I do intend to finish this story now. I hope you will all read and review this and chapters to come, Thanks.

  
  


Disclaimer-I don't own digimon or any of it's characters.

  
  


-Rebirth of Courage-

-Chapter Four-

  
  


I lead them that day towards New Tokyo, that is to say, I gave them directions and went ahead to scout the way, the Digital World could be as dangerous as it was beautiful if you weren't prepared. I was in a more difficult spot than I was used to, I had one semi-injured, relatively useless young man, and a girl with two weakling digimon, although she and her digimon did show potential. Now there was a situation I could possibly remedy, when I returned to them this evening and we made camp I would offer to teach her more on how battle with her digimon. After all, she has two, if she can be taught to control them well, she could be a formidable warrior.

As I walked on further I began to think about our destination. New Tokyo was the largest city in the Digital World and it was the headquarters of Church of the Prophet, although no one on earth outside of the church hierarchy knew about it. I had been there several times during my travels, although I always tried to avoid it if possible. It was a nice enough city, but whenever I went there the higher up priestesses would always start spouting prophecy and trying to get me to join them in whatever the hell it was they spent their time doing. Once I had accidently run into head priestess, who's official title was simply the Daughter, and she actually got down on her knees and prostrated herself before me. Several of the lower priestesses saw this and after that they all began bowing and scraping whenever I came near. Since then I've made a point of not returning to the city.

As I walked on, lost in thought, the day passed by around me. I realized that I had better start back if I was to make camp and have time to start the girl's training, plus, it was sort of pleasant to talk to her, I haven't really talked to that many humans during my life.

So, with that in mind I turned and started back, calling to Guilmon who seemed just as lost in thought as I had been, and probably would have continued walking if I hadn't called to him. It took us about a half hour to make our way back to Marena and her companions, when they were in close enough, I called to her.

"Marena, we'll make camp over by that little spring about a mile east of hear, ok!"

"I hear ya!"

I went ahead to the chosen site so that I could have the place cleared by the time they got there. They had to move pretty slow because of Marena's brother (I can never remember his name) so by the time they arrived I had a fairly impressive fire going and was beginning to cook the meal, a hearty beef stew tonight.

"Mmm... what smells good?" asked Marena.

"It's stew, my special recipe, it took me..."

... "Davis, I'm hungry!"

"Yeah, me too, I guess I'll make some stew, Veemon could you get me our pot and the ingredients for my stew out of the supplies."

"Ok, I'll go get them right now."

Once he brought me the pot and ingredients, I got right to work at my stew. In about a half-hour, I finished the stew and we all sat down to eat.

"Oh Davis, this is delicious," said Kari. (Who's Kari, why do I feel like I know her?)

"Thanks, it took me four years to get the spices just right."...(Wait, don't stop, I need to know who Kari is!)...

... I came to and the force of it all caused me to fall on my back, Marena immediately ran and kneeled down next to me, trying to see what was wrong. I ignored her questions, knowing full and well what was wrong, and knowing that it would pass momentarily. I was right, in a few moments I sat up and, without comment, went back to work on my stew. Marena was not about to be left in the dark though.

"Don't worry about it 'Rena... huh?" I stopped then, because she had suddenly turned bright red.

"What is it?"

"It's just that, well, no one's ever called me by a nickname before."

"Okaaay," I thought to myself, "maybe she won't be such a great warrior if she loses her cool so easily. Ah well, never gonna know until I try."

"Is there a problem, do you not want me to call you that anymore?"

"No no, it's nothing, I just had a flutter."

"Okay then," I said, and then turned my attention whole-heartedly upon the stew.

"'Rena, I was wondering, how would you like me to train you to be a better warrior, to teach you how to use the cards among other things."

"I'd like that, no one at Knowledge ever taught... Huh?" At her mention of Knowledge my whole body had tensed, and my hand with the spoon it had literally begun to shake.

"David, what is it, what's wrong?" asked 'Rena, concern lacing her voice.

I had to mentally take control of my body and get it to settle down, "I'm sorry 'Rena, I don't know what came over me. It's just that Knowledge is responsible for most of what's wrong in my world, so I guess even the mention of them makes me a bit tense."

"Oh, sorry."

"Not a problem... soup's ready."

"Great I'm starving!"

"Good, go get your brother while I fill some bowls."

"'Kay," she said before walking over to lend the boy a hand. It was strange, that whole conversation had been just plain weird, I was beginning to feel almost... domestic. What was worse though, was that I didn't seem to mind, well, as long as it was her. No matter. I had finished filling the bowls by the time that she, her brother, and the digimon had sat down beside the fire. We each grabbed a bowl and began to eat. There were appreciative comments all around, so my pride inflated just a bit.

When the meal was finished, the boy volunteered to wash the dishes so that 'Rena and I could begin our training. I could sense that he did not trust me entirely, but he knew he was in my debt and that 'Rena trusted me completely, so there was little he could do.

I led 'Rena a small distance away, so that we were separated from the others. I didn't want any interruptions for what we were going to do. I sat down and indicated that she sit down directly across from me, leaving a small area clear between us.

"Now 'Rena, the first thing you have to learn is that these are the keys to the power of a true digidestined," as I said this I drew my deck of cards out of the small, card-shaped pouch on my belt and laid them on the ground between us. She took them and quickly skimmed through them before laying them down again.

"But I know these, there just cards from a card game the kids play back on Earth."

"Yes, that is what they have become now, but that is not what they were created for."

At this point she became really interested, "What are they for?"

"In the days right after the founding of Knowledge Inc. it was run by one of the first Digidestined, a young genius name Izzy who had been paralyzed during the War for Existence. He created these cards for the use of the true Digidestined, so that they could unlock all the power of the Digimon."

"Amazing."

"That is not all. Some say that these cards are not simply the product of technology, but also contain some of the essence of the universe. There is even a legend that Izzy did not come up with them himself, but that their design came to him in a dream. I personally don't put much stock in that sort of superstition, although...."

"Yes, although what?"

"Well, there have been several occasions where cards that I could have sworn I didn't own showed up in my deck exactly when I needed them and then disappeared soon after."

"Really, then all those legends might be true!"

"It doesn't really matter whether they're true or not, because we're not here to discuss philosophy. The question is have you ever learned to play the game?"

"No, I never had the time, I've been on the run pretty much since I met you, and my previous owners(that concept still bothers me) never let me have much in the way of toys or games, they said it made me soft."

"Hehe, the truth is they were afraid of what you might be capable of, were you to get your hands on the cards. Well, enough of that, it's time for you to learn the basics. First things first, here, you take half of my deck...."

I continued to tutor her on how to play the game and it's applications to the real world until long after the others had fallen asleep. Even Guilmon, who usually tried to wait for me to go to bed, was snoring peacefully over next to Renamon and Gatomon. She was a fast learner, as well as an avid one, so we didn't actually stop until an hour or so after midnight. 

"You did well tonight and learned a lot," I told her as I gathered up all my cards.

"Thanks, you make a great teacher."

"Tell you what, when we reach New Tokyo, I'll buy you a deck of cards so that you'll have your own when battles come your way."

"You don't have to do that."

"Don't worry about it, you're going to need them if you're going to survive out here, and I doubt you have any of the money they use around here."

"I guess you're right, thanks in advance then," she said as she made to go grab her pack.

"Sleep well then," I replied, before sitting down next to a large rock. I sat there, my eyes closed, until I was certain she was asleep and then I stood up and walked off into the distance. I still wasn't used to sleeping with such large groups and if I had walked off while she was awake, she would have asked questions I didn't really feel like answering.

* * *

I awoke the next morning feeling wonderfully rested, despite the fact that David and I had stayed up really late. When I thought about it a moment, I realized that I had woken well rested every night I'd spent in the Digital World so far. It was probably just that I didn't have to fear pursuers around every corner here.

Ah well, no time for that, I had to get all washed up before any of the others awoke. I hated missing a bath, it just made me feel grimy when it happened. I stood up and looked around, checking on all my friends like I did every morning. As always, David was not there, but I'd gotten used to it by now, so I didn't let it worry me.

I walked away from our camp to where the spring formed a large, clean pond hidden behind a convenient rocky outcropping. As I took off my clothes and slipped into the cool water I reflected on my recent accomplishments. I had finally managed to really escape my pursuers, possibly forever. I had also made it into a world where just about anything seemed to be possible, and where I could live a reasonably normal, happy life. Last but in no way least, I had found the boy who had plagued my dreams for as long as I could remember, even before I met him the first time. He was still an unsolved mystery, but at least he was near at hand, so I could try and solve the mysteries which seemed to cloak his existence.

It was about this time that I realized just how damn cold the water was, so without any further ado, I finished washing myself and leapt out of the pond. I dried off just as quickly as possible and put my clothes back on, trying to ward off the chill. I made my way back to camp then, suddenly overcome with a fierce hunger. I wish somebody had already made some food, but I guess nobody was up besides me. I set about making enough oatmeal for all of us, so it'd be ready when the others had woken. 

While I was stirring the food, I thought I heard a soft footstep. I began to slowly look around the clearing to see where it had come from when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Aaaaahhh!" I screamed as I leapt three feet into the air.

"Wait, it's just me," came the familiar voice of David from my rear.

I lay on the ground panting from my fear, "Don't do that!"

"Sorry, I guess I've just gotten used to walking softly."

"Oh, that's okay," I said, seeing how depressed he'd looked when I yelled at him.

"So, is the food done, it smells great," he said politely.

"Just a few minutes more."

"Ok."

By the time the food was done, everyone was up (Actually, only Guilmon had managed to sleep through my scream as it was). We all ate our fill and then quickly packed up our meager camp. The entire party was eager to begin since David had said we would arrive at our destination, the Holy City of New Tokyo, sometime this afternoon.

We set out very early and walked across the hilltops when possible. I had asked David why there were no roads a few days before and he had told me that there were, it's just that my portal had opened into one of the deeper wilderness areas. I thought about many things as I walked, mostly though, I tried to picture what New Tokyo would be like. Would it be like the polluted and overcrowded cities of my world, or more like one of the cities of the old days of the First Ones. Maybe even a Castle city like the ones in the storybooks. I was still deep in my fascinating dream world when I realized that I could see David ahead of us standing before the edge of what I thought was a cliff, though it was difficult to see from this angle.

"Come over you two, and get your first look at the Holy City."

And so, we did.

It was like nothing I had ever seen or imagined before in my entire life. The building were all fluidly designed, more like sculptures than pieces of architecture, and there were glowing rings of 0s and 1s surrounding the tallest towers. The whole glowing city was situated on a rocky outcropping, surrounded by waterfalls from the sparkling canals that ran through the city.

"Wow," was all I could say.

  
  


To Be Continued...

I know this chapter was kind of a filler. There is a reason, you see, I'm trying to write this on the scope of a real novel, and I felt that in a novel, they would have had a chapter about going to the city. Once again, please read and reply.

  
  



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